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Monday, October 01, 2007
Mactan bizman: Stop being mayor’s ‘puppies’
CEBU CITY -- Businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr. said he is not affected by barangay and urban poor leaders declaring support for Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza and by their plan to hold a rally to denounce him for “disturbing the harmony” in the city.
“These people are Radaza’s puppies that have long enjoyed his power,” he said.
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Pelaez said Radaza’s political supporters should exercise prudence instead of closing their eyes to the legitimate issues he and the Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) raised.
But Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president and ex-officio City Councilor Leo Mercado said the constituents themselves who felt sorry for Radaza drove them to declare their support for the mayor in a press conference last Saturday. Among the speakers were the mayor’s wife, Paz Radaza.
“The people are confused about whether or not the allegations were true. That is aggravated by Pelaez’s group attacking the mayor over the radio, on TV, in the newspapers,” he told Sun.Star in Cebuano.
With both sides rallying for more support, some residents worry that the city will end up the loser because the conflict could tarnish Lapu-Lapu’s potential for foreign and local investors.
“This has turned ugly. On one side, the business people; on the other side, the mayor and the barangay captains and urban poor leaders. This should stop,” said Alexis Te, a financial analyst of a foreign firm, in Cebuano.
“The businessmen are now being pitted against the poor,” said Rossel Dulcisima, a local university student.
Permit
City Hall’s latest offensive against Pelaez was a letter giving the tenants of his Marina Mall in Barangay Pusok 10 days to explain why their business permits should not be revoked because they are doing business in a structure that allegedly lacks a business permit.
The tenants’ permits were allegedly issued despite the absence of other requirements.
City Administrator Teodulo Ybanez said Pelaez deceived the city by declaring the mall’s second floor as residential to avoid paying more taxes.
“In our inspection, commercial ang second floor sa building….Dili ba na tikas (Don’t you think that is cheating)?” he said.
For his part, Punta Engaño Barangay chairman Angel Rodriguez urged city officials to take the blame instead of passing it on to former vice mayor Norma Patalinjug.
City Hall faulted Patalinjug for the uncollected garbage and the issuance of business permits to Marina Mall tenants with incomplete documents.
“This issue does not concern me. But I pity Ma’am Norma…. The lady already decided to distance herself from politics and now they are dragging her into their dispute,” Rodriguez said.
Pelaez has already referred to his lawyers the 10-day notice, which he said was “harassment” that has instead strengthened his resolve to dig deeper for the truth.
Answers
He said the MICCI and the different organizations supporting him favor legal action over the suggested street protests.
“If they want to hold a rally let them do it. They are making the issue political para makapakita sila sa ilang gidaghanon (to try to prove that they have the numbers). But, actually, these people (joining rallies for Radaza) are waiting to be rehired under plantilla or job orders,” the businessman said.
He said businessman Ernesto Aboitiz’s group will meet with Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas officials this week on the offer to provide private lawyers to help gather more evidence on the purchase of allegedly overpriced computers by the Radaza administration.
Of the barangay officials, Pelaez said, “They can rally all they want, even daily, but that will still not explain the scams that are now pending in the ombudsman.
It is better for Radaza to come out himself in the open and answer the charges, instead of asking his cheering squad to do the explaining.” (AIV of Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (October 1, 2007 issue)
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